Removal of Sediment from a Container Holding Liquid

ABSTRACT

A sediment removal assembly is provided for removal of sediment in a container. The assembly has a container seal for sealing an opening to the container. The container seal is formed with a seal body with a flow through passageway between opposite ends of the seal body, and a valve arrangement with a valve member normally spring biassed to close said passageway. One end of said seal body is adapted to sealingly engage said container at an opening thereof to close the opening. The assembly also has a sediment reservoir adapted for removable sealing engagement with the opposite end of the seal body and in communication with the flow through passageway so that upon opening the valve member.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

THIS INVENTION relates to removal of sediment from a container holdingliquid and in particular but not limited to removal of sediment frombottled beverages using a sediment removal assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Bottled beverages that employ secondary fermentation inside a bottle toproduce a carbonated beverage have sediment comprising dead yeast andother material in the bottom of the bottle. The beverage must bedecanted or the beverage drunk in a cloudy state. A prominent example ofthis is home brewed beer.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a sediment removalassembly arranged to alleviate or to at least reduce to a certain levelone or more of the prior art disadvantages.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a sedimentremoval assembly for removal of the sediment from a container whilemaintaining the integrity of the liquid within the container.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect therefore, the present invention resides in a sedimentremoval assembly for a container. The assembly comprises a containerseal having a seal body formed with a flow through passageway betweenopposite ends of the seal body, and a valve arrangement having a valvemember adapted to be normally in a closed position for closing saidpassageway. One end of said seal body is adapted to sealingly engagesaid container at an opening thereof, thereby normally closing saidopening to the container. The assembly further comprises a sedimentreservoir adapted for removable sealing engagement with the opposite endof the seal body and communicating with the flow through passageway sothat upon opening the valve member a predetermined amount of liquid mayflow through the flow through passageway from the container into thereservoir and any sediment may be delivered gravitationally into thereservoir for accumulation of sediment in the reservoir and removalthereof from the container after the flow through passageway is closed.The reservoir for accumulation of sediment includes a reservoir bodyhaving a valve actuator adapted to actuate the valve member as thereservoir body is being applied to engage the opposite end of the valvebody to an open position to thereby automatically open the passagewayand at the same time maintain a further seal to the exterior.

In another aspect therefore, the present invention resides in a sedimentremoval assembly for a container. The assembly comprises a containerseal having a seal body formed with an open end and a closed end whichis opposite to said open end. The seal body has a reservoir adjacent tosaid closed end and a flow passageway leading from said open end to saidreservoir. The assembly further comprises a valve arrangement having avalve member adapted to be manually movable between a closed positionfor closing said passageway to the reservoir and an open position foropening said passageway to the reservoir so that upon opening the valvemember a predetermined amount of liquid may flow through the passagewaywhen the valve member is open from the container into the reservoir andany sediment may be delivered gravitationally into the reservoir foraccumulation of sediment in the reservoir and removal thereof from thecontainer after the valve flow through passageway is closed.

Preferably the seal containing the valve arrangement or “valved seal”substitutes for a crown seal or screw top cap or other conventional sealnormally used to close the container. In the case of a crown seal thevalved seal preferably comprises a clamp means adapted to seal againstthe lip of the bottle which would normally be closed by a crown seal. Inthe case of a screw top cap, the valved seal typically includes athreaded section having an internal thread applied to the outer threadon the container neck to close and seal the container.

In a preferred form, the reservoir for accumulation of sediment includesa reservoir body having a valve actuator to actuate the valve in thevalved seal as the reservoir body is being applied to the valved seal toautomatically open the valve and at the same time maintain a furtherseal to the exterior.

Typically, seals are provided by multiple o-rings contained in thevalve, the valve itself and also in the valve actuator.

In another embodiment, in the case of a bottle normally closed by a corkor a crown seal, a clamp arrangement may be applied utilisingappropriate clamp members to seal about the opening to the bottle orcontainer.

In each case while the bottle or container is inverted, in itsconnection to the valve member seal and the reservoir for accumulationof sediment external to the container the valve may be manually orautomatically opened so that sediment may flow by gravity into thereservoir.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the present may be more readily understood and be put intopractical effect reference will now be made to the accompanying drawingswhich illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a section through the sediment removal assembly according tothe present invention prior to actuation of the valve;

FIG. 2 illustrates removal of sediment with the container inverted andthe valve actuated;

FIG. 3 is a drawing illustrating removal of the valve actuator andreservoir;

FIG. 4 is a drawing illustrating cleaning of the valve actuator byremoval of sediment and a predetermined amount of liquid from the valveactuator;

FIG. 5 is an exploded drawing illustrating the valve body, its returnspring and a ring seal;

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate an assembly as applied to a wine bottle andbeer bottle respectively; and

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate an alternative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the drawings and initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, there isillustrated in FIG. 1 a sediment removal assembly 10 comprising a seal12 having a cylindrical seal body 14 with opposite ends 16 and 18, and aflow through passageway 20 between those ends. The end 16 is applied tothe top 102 of a bottle 100 containing a beverage 104. The end 16 has aninternal screw threaded portion at 22 shown co-operating with anexternal screw thread portion 106 on the bottle 100 and an o-ring sealmember at 24. The screw threaded portion 22 forces the o-ring 24 intosealing engagement against rim 108 of the bottle 100.

The seal 12 has a valve arrangement 26 comprising a valve seat 28 whichco-operates with a valve member 30 having an o-ring seal member 32carried on a valve body 34. The valve body 34 is held in the normallyclosed position by a biassing spring 36. Thus, the o-ring seal member 32and the o-ring seal member 24 co-operate to seal the bottle 100 when thevalve member 30 is closed.

The sediment removal assembly 10 further comprises a valve actuator 40formed with a reservoir 42. The actuator 40 has an internal thread 44 atits open end portion 46 which co-operates with an external thread 38 onthe seal body 14. Seals members 48 and 50 provide a seal for thesediment accumulation reservoir 42 in the valve actuator 40.

An actuating pin 52 bears down against the upper end portion 39 of thevalve body 34 as the valve actuator 40 is screwed down onto the sealbody 14. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the valve actuator 40 has not beenscrewed completely down onto the seal body 14 and there is a gap at 54whereby upon further application of the actuator 40, the pin 52 willengage with the valve member 34 to open the valve against the bias ofspring 36.

Once the actuator 40 is placed in position as illustrated in FIG. 1, thewhole assembly 10 and bottle 13 maybe inverted to the positionillustrated in FIG. 2. The actuator 40 has a relatively broad flatsurface 56 for the bottle 100 to rest in the inverted position. Theactuator 40 is then fully applied to the seal 12 to open the valve suchthat liquid may flow from the bottle 100 through the valve passage 20and into the sediment accumulation reservoir 42 in the actuator 40. Thisis depicted graphically in FIG. 2.

It will be appreciated that, by gravitation, sediment 110 is normallydeposited in the bottom of the bottle 100 (not shown) when in a normalupright position but when inverted the sediment 110 will make its waydown through the neck 112 and an opening 114 of the bottle 100 andthrough the passageway 20 in the valve member 30 and into the sedimentaccumulation reservoir 42. The need to invert the bottle 100 may beavoided by carrying out the secondary fermentation with the bottleinverted and the valve open. The reservoir 42 may be removed while thebottle is still inverted automatically closing the valve member 30 andkeeping the bottle 100 sealed.

Parts of the assembly 10 may be made transparent to enable visualinspection of the operation of the sediment removal process. Once thesediment 110 has been removed to the satisfaction of the user, then itis simply a matter of the user removing the valve actuator 40 which willthereby enable the bottle 100 to be re-sealed by reason of the action ofthe bias spring 36 upon the valve member 30. It will be appreciated thatthis will therefore result in removal a small predetermined amount ofliquid from the container 100 comprising that portion in volume occupiedby the sediment accumulation reservoir 42 and the space available aroundthe valve member 30 from the o-ring 32 outward.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate removal of the actuator 25 and its cleaning inFIG. 4.

The valve member 30 is illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 5 and FIGS.6 and 7 illustrate application of the seal 12 to wine and beer bottlesrespectively. It will be appreciated the seal 12 may be a push fit, maycomprise screw fit or may comprise clamping means of conventional formutilised to retain the seal in engagement with the bottle 100. In thisregard in the case of on a non-screw thread bottle, the seal comprisingthe o-ring 24 may be applied by a further spring located in the seal andthat portion comprising the internal thread 22 of the seal may comprisehinge members which fit around the lip of the bottle so that a spring isused to apply the seal 24 to the bottle. This is a conventional sealingarrangement typically utilised for Sparkling Wines and may be adaptedand suitably applied in the present case.

Referring to FIG. 5, the valve member 30 as shown has its valve body 34formed with an enlarged and substantially conical shaped valve head 34Aextending from a neck portion 34B. The valve head 34A has a cylindricalportion 34C adjacent to the neck portion 34B. The cylindrical portion34C is formed with a periphery groove 34D adapted to receive and retainthereat the sealing ring 32. The sealing ring 32 will engage the valveseat 28 when the valve member 30 is in the closed position as shown inFIG. 1 and will moved away from the valve seat 28 when the valve memberis in the open position so that the passageway 20 is open for thesediment 110 to flow into the reservoir 42 as shown in FIG. 2. A tailportion 34E is joined to the neck portion 34B. The tail portion 34E hasspaced radially extending elements 34F adapted to form longitudinal flowpassages 34G between adjacent elements 34F. Each of the elements 34F hasextended end parts 34H and 34K forming a recessed space for receivingthe spring 36.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9 there is illustrated an alternativeembodiment typically used in conjunction with still wines such as redand any particular red wines where there is a tendency for accumulationof sediment in wine as it ages. The alternative to this process would bethe normal decantation process.

In FIG. 8 there is illustrated a bottle 200 and a sediment removalassembly 60 having a body member 62 with an open end portion 64 arrangedto seal an opening 202 to the bottle 200. The assembly 60 includes asealing ring 66 at the end portion 64 and the ring 66 is applied to theopening 43 by respective clamping arms 68 and 70 prior to the bottle 200along with assembly 60 being inverted into the inverted position of FIG.8. The assembly 60 has a closed end 72 with a relatively large flatexternal surface 74 so that the bottle 200 will remain supported in theinverted position by the assembly 60. It will be appreciated that cork204 has been removed from the bottle 200. Upon inversion, a valveactuator 76 is manually turned to operate a valve member 78 to move tothe open position and a small amount of wine is discharged from thebottle 200 into that part of the assembly downstream whilst on the sealmember 62. Sediment 206 then flows into the sediment accumulationchamber or reservoir 80 as depicted in FIG. 8. Once the sediment 206from the bottle 200 is in the chamber 80, the valve 78 is moved to theclosed position by turning the actuator 76. The bottle 200 can then bereturned to the upright position illustrated in FIG. 9 and that portionof liquid at 82 flows back into the bottle. The assembly 60 may beremoved from the bottle 200 and the bottle may be then re-corked asillustrated in FIG. 9.

Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative example of thepresent invention many variations and modifications thereto will beapparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broadambit and scope of the invention as herein set forth in the followingclaims.

1. A sediment removal assembly for a container having an opening, theassembly comprises a container seal having a seal body formed with aflow through passageway between opposite ends thereof, and a valvearrangement having a valve member adapted to be normally in a closedposition for closing said passageway; one end of said seal body isadapted to sealingly engage said container at the opening, thereby theseal normally closing said opening to the container; and a sedimentreservoir adapted for removable sealing engagement with the opposite endof the seal body and communicating with the flow through passageway sothat upon opening the valve member a predetermined amount of liquid mayflow through the flow through passageway from the container opening intothe reservoir and any sediment may be delivered gravitationally into thereservoir for accumulation of sediment in the reservoir and removalthereof from the container after the flow through passageway is closed,the reservoir for accumulation of sediment including a reservoir bodyhaving a valve actuator adapted to actuate the valve member as thereservoir body is being applied to engage the opposite end of the valvebody to an open position to thereby automatically open the passagewayand at the same time maintain a further seal to the exterior.
 2. Asediment removal assembly for a container having an opening, theassembly comprises a container seal having a seal body formed with anopen end and a closed end which is opposite to said open end, the sealbody having a reservoir adjacent to said closed end and a flowpassageway leading from said open end to said reservoir, and a valvearrangement having a valve member adapted to be manually movable betweena closed position for closing said passageway to the reservoir and anopen position for opening said passageway to the reservoir so that uponopening the valve member a predetermined amount of liquid may flowthrough the passageway when the valve member is open from the containeropening into the reservoir and any sediment may be deliveredgravitationally into the reservoir for accumulation of sediment in thereservoir and removal thereof from the container after the valve flowthrough passageway is closed.
 3. The assembly according to claim 1wherein the seal containing the valve arrangement is adapted as asubstitute for a crown seal or screw top cap or other conventional sealnormally used to close the container.
 4. The assembly according to claim3 wherein the container is in the form of a bottle and the seal isadapted as a substitute for a crown seal, the assembly furthercomprising a clamp means adapted to seal against the lip of the bottlewhich would normally be closed by a crown seal.
 5. The assemblyaccording to claim 3 wherein the container has a neck adjacent to theopening and an outer thread on the neck, and the seal being adapted as asubstitute for a screw top cap and including a threaded section havingan internal thread applied to the outer thread on the container neck toclose and seal the container.
 6. The assembly according to claim 1further comprising a sealing arrangement adapted to prevent escape ofbeverage when the container seal is in engagement with the containerand/or when the reservoir is in engagement with the valve body.
 7. Theassembly according to claim 6 wherein the sealing arrangement has afirst seal element adapted to seal around said opening when thecontainer seal is in engagement with the container.
 8. The assemblyaccording to claim 6 or 7 wherein the sealing arrangement has one ormore second sealing elements adapted to seal between said reservoir andthe valve body.
 9. The assembly according to claim 1 wherein thecontainer seal includes a clamp arrangement having clamp membersoperable to seal about the opening to the container.
 10. The assemblyaccording to claim 1 wherein the reservoir or container seal has arelatively large and substantially flat exterior surface adapted tosupport the container in the inverted position when in engagement withthe assembly.